The Veil Between the Worlds

The Rev. Rali Weaver

First Church and Parish in Dedham

When I was 16 years old I sat with my 75 year old grandfather and watched him as he died of heart disease.

When I was 22 years old I sat with my 16 year old student as he died of a heart attack as we were playing basketball in the gym.

When I was 25 years old I watched as the life slowly left my 55 year old mother as she died of breast cancer.

Life is impermanent.

I bring all of this up because at this time of year when death seems all around us it sometimes seems easier to focus on life than to look death in the eye.

And what I can tell you for certain, from direct observation, is that death is nothing to be afraid of.

That sure isn’t a sentence you hear everyday is it? Death is nothing to be afraid of.

I believe however that this is an important concept to meditate upon this time of year.

As we embrace the changing of the seasons, as we approach All Hallows eve I believe it is important that we embrace the simple truth that our death is as natural as our birth.

I will admit that this may be my central theme for today because I spent last night watching scary movies with our youth group, and yet I do think it is an important truth for us to consider.

Life is impermanent.

In colonial days churches often kept hourglasses on pulpits to make sure the preacher didn’t preach for too long. However over time those hourglasses took on a different meaning as preachers used them to remind parishioners that our time on earth is limited and we never know when our time might be up and we shouldn’t waste our time.

Of course that is my abbreviated version of what they were saying. There was also something in what Colonial Preachers were saying that spoke of Judgment Day– and accepting Jesus as your savior -before it is too late. There was the promise that comes from the Letter of Paul to the Corinthians that the resurrection of Jesus takes away the sting of death. And with all of that the hourglass on the pulpit reminded them of the impermanence of this world.

I will admit that all of this may have all been a ploy by the ministers to give them more time to preach. I can tell you from experience that if you scare the audience they rarely want to leave until they get to the happy ending.

And yet today on this Sunday before All Soul’s day I would like to conjure a vision of the hourglass to remind us that we all have a shelf life.

And what-- you might be asking yourself --do we do with that information?

If we don’t have a proven formula to get us into heaven, or to help us reach nirvana, if we aren’t focused on gifts in the afterlife then what good might it do to focus on our death anyway?

Well, I am convinced that it is safe to say that the vast majority of us do not want to die before our natural time has come, and while wanting to die before your time is universally agreed to be a sign of spiritual un-health-- I also believe our health system, and cultural norms are prone to focus us on avoiding death to the point that we often extend lifetimes beyond their natural limits.

At this time of year when we are surrounded by the shortening days, the howling winds, the dropping leaves, the dying plants, how can we not accept that death is and will always be a part of the cycle of life.

Halloween which is based on the Gaelic festival of Samhain with aspects of a Festival of the Dead, serves as a sort of gateway into this understanding.

The festival of Samhain within the Pagan tradition is widely considered to be the start of the Celtic New Year.

Imagine starting each year with a day of the dead?

In many ways it actually fits doesn’t it?

If we can separate ourselves from our aversion to death and embrace the grief that our losses create, we must acknowledge that no life is possible without death and that every death does create some element of life.

Am I making your head spin this morning?

I am sure this isn’t an easy concept to swallow.

I am sure if someone had told me when I was 16 and wrestling with the loss of a most beloved grandfather, I might have argued vehemently against this idea.

And even when I was in my early 20’s when my student died so tragically and unexpectedly, I know I would have been hard pressed to make sense of the loss of his young spirit in this way.

And even as my mother died after a long illness, too young but with a body that had clearly lived as long as it could, if one of you had told me that all death creates some element of new life, I would have thought you were crazy.

Yet, now, after 20 years or more to think about death, I can see how my own life has been transformed by these events. And I can clearly see how my own spirit has been informed and inspired by these unique individuals who have blessed me with their lives. I would not be who I am today if it were not for these people who have touched my life with their own.

If it weren’t for those who came before me, my parents and their parents and their parents before them, I would not be who I am today.

And so I can say for certain now that life is not possible without death and that in every death there is some element of life.

And after all, you must admit that even though every religion in the world tries to describe it, death is the next truly uncharted territory.

While we know our bodies have a finite life span- the energy of our spirits is without measure.

Because energy cannot be created or destroyed I am certain that there is more to life and death than simply the passing of our bodies.

When our bodies fail us it will be our spirit that carries on.

And when our bodies separate from our spirits- at the moment of death - I am certain there is somewhere they must go.

This is the last great journey of this life. We do not know where we are going but we will each arrive someday.

When our physical lives are over and we are separated from our bodies there will be liberation from suffering which is the last great journey of this life. And I cannot tell you where it will lead, or what will come after that moment but I can say for certain that when your day comes it is nothing to be afraid of.

In the pagan tradition it is generally understood that after death the spirit enters another dimension, as though crossing to the other side of a veil, and this veil between the worlds makes it difficult for those of us still in our physical bodies to communicate with those who have died.

It is at the Pagan New Year, Samhain, that the veil between the worlds is considered to be at its thinnest and when it is thought to be the easiest to communicate between the living and the dead.

This is curiously when the Christian Church has also focused on remembering the dead with All Souls and All Saints day celebrations.

Our secular holiday of Halloween might also be considered a time to exorcize our demons.

And so today (as the hour glass runs out) I invite us all to hold up our remembrances of those who have died but still live in our hearts.

If the veil between the worlds is thinnest this is an opportunity to say the words we want and need to say to our loved ones. It is also an opportunity to celebrate those who have come before us and lent their spirits to our path. As well as to recognize our own impermanence and embrace it head on.

At this time of year let us recognize that as we move each day closer to our own death we need not be afraid but instead let us acknowledge our impermanence and thereby embrace life more fully. Knowing that our loved ones are with us from either side of the veil.